Six Ikeys in San Diego Sevens semi finals

The usual Ikeys sevens supects were in action again on the weekend in California and it is safe to say that all of them had a great showing in front of a record crowd.  

The US team with Dallen ‘Paki” Stanford and Matt Hawkins were stealing the show in front of their home support and had some excellent matches, marching through to their first ever cup semi final. England with Ikey Mat Turner were playing in the final vs the Pumas from Argentina who claimed the cup.

After a fantastic start where they lost to SA by only a point, the US Eagles beat Australia, Canada in the poool overcame NZ slayers Kenya in the quarters and advanced to the semi-finals where they narrowly lost to Argentina.

South Africa, with Ikeys Kyle Brown, Paul Delport and new captain Mpho Mbyiozo also made the semi’s after taking care of teh Kiwis but couldn’t get past Engand.  The Boks went ahead 12:0 after tries by Gio Aplon (Maties) and Mbyiozo when England bounced back and took the lead. Turner’s team managed to hang on even though Paul Delport added another try for the Boks in the dying seconds.

England are now joint log leaders with SA on 60 points, after winning in Wellington and scoring points for coming second in San Diego.

Last year’s Varsity Cup top scorer and UCT Ikey Tigers star Mat Turner just arrived back in Bristol to rejoin with his club who are fighting relegation.

Turner who is working on establishing himself in the experienced England 7s team told uctrfc.co.za “The selection for the Sevens World Cup is going out next week, it would be great to be in the mix!”.

The World Cup in Dubai in March is massive for many reasons, also because it promises to be a major trump card in (7s) Rugby’s attempt to rejoin the Olympic Games, which will be decided on later in the year.

The Ikey Tigers Camp will be watching their UUUUU boys in action!